Schlagwort-Archive: Mobile Phones

Everything You Need to Know About MVNOs and Prepaid Phone Plans (US)

Kommentar verfassen

There are hundreds of prepaid phone plans, but they all borrow from the same few mobile networks. Here’s what you need to know when shopping for cell service in the US.

Prepaid phone plans are for more than just setting up a burner phone. Instead of getting locked into a contract and indefinitely paying for a phone you may never actually own, prepaid phone plans promise lower prices while delivering the same coverage and speed as the major networks like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. What’s not to love?

Although prepaid phones sometimes get a bad rap, they make a lot of sense for some customers, particularly if you’re partial to buying unlocked phones and owning them outright. By cutting out contracts that stipulate several lines, financing on phones like the iPhone 17 that can climb well over $1,000, and extras you may not need, like mobile hot spot coverage, prepaid phone services end up much cheaper than major carriers without big performance losses. Still, they aren’t made equally. Most prepaid phone providers tap into an existing cellular network, but they have different limitations on how much access you have to that network. Here’s everything you need to know.

What Are Mobile Virtual Network Operators?

Prepaid Phone Plans Everything You Need to Know About MVNOs

Prepaid phone plans used to be easy to sort out, but after decades of mergers and acquisitions, the lines have gotten a little messy. The best place to start is the difference between mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and mobile network operators (MNOs). MNOs own and operate a mobile network, and they include T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon. MVNOs use an existing network. For example, Cricket Wireless uses AT&T’s network, while Google Fi relies on T-Mobile.

The lines between MNOs and MVNOs have blurred in recent years. Previously independent MVNOs like TracFone have been gobbled up by larger carriers (in this case, Verizon). Other brands used to operate mobile networks but now serve as MVNOs. A good example of that is MetroPCS, which merged with T-Mobile in 2012 and eventually became Metro by T-Mobile in 2018.

With how intertwined MVNOs and MNOs are these days, it’s hard to separate them based purely on infrastructure. The more important distinction is whether your phone plan is prepaid or postpaid: With a prepaid plan, you pay for your data and time up front. With a postpaid plan, you’re billed for the data you’ve used after you’ve already used it.

Beyond when you pay, there are a few other aspects that separate MVNOs from traditional MNOs:

  • Unlocked phones. The idea of a “carrier-locked” phone doesn’t exist with MVNOs. You’ll need an unlocked phone to use with an MVNO.
  • Bring your own phone. MVNOs generally don’t force you to lease (or finance) a phone as part of your service, bringing down the price. Ideally, you’ll buy a phone outright and bring it to an MVNO.
  • No contracts. Because MVNOs are prepaid, you don’t have to sign a contract. You pay for your service upfront.
  • Lower prices. MVNOs are almost universally less expensive than a major carrier. Some of the reasons are obvious, like the fact that you need to buy a phone outright, but others are hidden away, such as congestion speeds (more on that later). Regardless, you’ll spend less with an MVNO in almost every case.

Those are the broad differences, but you’ll find smaller distinctions within MVNOs themselves. For instance, Tello Mobile is what you’d call a “full MVNO,” managing everything from marketing to billing and customer service. Boost by T-Mobile is a lighter MVNO, where aspects of service like support are more closely tied to a major carrier (in this case, T-Mobile).

Downsides of MVNOs and Prepaid Mobile Plans

Prepaid Phone Plans Everything You Need to Know About MVNOs

It’d be great if prepaid MVNOs were cheaper than major carriers without any downsides, but that’s not the case. For MVNOs, the devil’s in the details. MVNOs are treated somewhat as second-class citizens on the network, at least when push comes to shove. That means you might experience slower or even throttled speeds in some cases.

MVNOs aren’t forthcoming about these limitations, but you can find them spelled out in policy documentation. Let’s look at Mint Mobile’s network management policy as an example.

The first hurdle is deprioritization. “Other brands may be prioritized higher on the T-Mobile network,” reads Mint’s network management policy. “For all Service plans, T-Mobile may also reduce speeds during times of network congestion.” These policies aren’t clear about how severe the slowdown is, but generally, if a network has a lot of congestion, MVNOs will see slower speeds before those on major carriers.

In most parts of the country, this isn’t a problem. However, you’ll likely experience slower speeds in major cities and at large events. If you’re at a concert and everyone is trying to post Instagram stories and TikToks, you’ll probably notice a significant slowdown.

Another downside with most MVNOs is throttling. You’ll be able to purchase an “unlimited” data plan, but there are usually soft caps to the amount of data you can use before speeds slow. Again using Mint as an example, it classifies “heavy data users” as those who use more than 35 GB of data in a month, and it says these users will “have their data usage prioritized below the data usage (including tethering) of other customers at times and at locations where there are competing customer demands for network resources, which may result in slower data speeds.”

Those are the two big drawbacks, but some smaller limitations pop up depending on the provider you look at. Mint, for instance, uses “video optimization,” which basically means video streams are capped at standard definition when using mobile data (480p). This happens automatically on the network, even if you’re trying to stream a higher resolution.

I’m using Mint as a touchstone here, but these practices are common among most MVNOs. Cricket has similar data restrictions and video limitations as does Optimum Mobile. Major carriers that have direct prepaid plans, like T-Mobile, generally have higher data limits before reducing speeds.

Outside of those limitations, some MVNOs don’t offer additional cellular features like roaming or a mobile hot spot. Those limitations aren’t universal, but they’re some good things to look out for when you’re looking at providers and plans.

Can You Use the Same Number With a Prepaid Mobile Plan?

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) determined decades ago that phone providers don’t own phone numbers. Broadly, you’re allowed to keep your number when transferring to a new carrier, regardless of whether that’s a prepaid or postpaid carrier. In fact, since 2009, the FCC requires carriers to transfer—or, more properly, “port”—your number within one business day.

Under the FCC’s rules, a carrier can’t deny porting your number, even if you refuse to pay a porting fee. However, porting fees are allowed. Some carriers, such as T-Mobile, don’t have any fees for porting your number. Others charge anywhere from a few dollars to $20.

There are situations where you can’t port your number—for instance, if you’re moving to a different region. Most MVNOs allow you to check if you can bring your own number over. Visible by Verizon, for example, features a portability checker on its website, along with a detailed guide on transferring your number.

Is T-Mobile an MVNO?

T-Mobile is a mobile network operator, or MNO, so it wouldn’t fall under the category of an MVNO. However, T-Mobile owns several MVNOs, including Metro by T-Mobile and Mint Mobile.

Do Prepaid Phone Plans Need a Credit Check?

You generally don’t need a credit check with prepaid phone plans. Virtual carriers like Metro by T-Mobile use prepaid service instead of postpaid service. You pay for your calls, texts, and data up front, while traditional carriers use a postpaid model where you’re billed at the end of your billing cycle.

Although prepaid phone services don’t need a credit check for the service itself, you may need a credit check if you want to finance or lease a phone. Many prepaid phone services allow you to bring your own device if you’re unable to finance or lease a new phone.

Can I Bring My Own Phone to an MVNO?

Nearly all MVNOs allow you to bring your own phone. That’s one of the big advantages of using an MVNO over a major carrier, in fact. You’ll need an unlocked phone, however.

T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T all allow you to unlock devices that are locked to their networks, with some stipulations. For instance, Verizon keeps your device locked for 60 days from the purchase date. Regardless of the particular policy, you’ll need to own the device outright before you can unlock it.

MVNOs and the Networks They Use

There are a ton of MVNOs, and I don’t use “a ton” lightly. There are dozens and dozens of prepaid providers, absolutely, but also smaller, niche MVNOs. For instance, Secure Phone is an MVNO largely focused on selling its own GPS-tracking phone and app; the cellular service isn’t the main draw. There are also plenty of MVNOs that aren’t really around anymore. GoSmart Mobile, for example, still allows you to sign up for a plan on its website, but it doesn’t offer anything beyond 3G speeds. I’ve excluded those providers.

Here’s a list of MVNOs mainly focused on providing prepaid cellular service, separated by network. Most MVNOs only use a single network, but some tap into multiple networks. You’ll see those names listed multiple times. I haven’t included providers that use other networks for roaming. Boost Mobile, for example, uses its own network, but it taps into the T-Mobile and Verizon networks when roaming.

MVNOs on the T-Mobile Network

  • Astound Mobile
  • boom! Mobile
  • Flex Mobile
  • Fliggs Mobile
  • Gen Mobile
  • Google Fi
  • Helium Mobile
  • Infimobile
  • Jethro Mobile
  • Kroger Wireless
  • Metro by T-Mobile
  • Mint Mobile
  • Mobi
  • Noble Mobile
  • Optimum Mobile
  • Patriot Mobile
  • RedPocket Mobile
  • SpeedTalk Mobile
  • Tello Mobile
  • Teltik
  • Ting Mobile
  • Ultra Mobile
  • US Mobile

MVNOs on the Verizon Network

  • Affinity Cellular
  • boom! Mobile
  • Cox Mobile
  • Credo Mobile
  • Infimobile
  • MobileX
  • Page Plus Cellular
  • Patriot Mobile
  • RedPocket Mobile
  • Simple Mobile
  • Spectrum Mobile
  • Straight Talk Wireless
  • Ting Mobile
  • Total Wireless
  • TracFone
  • US Mobile
  • Visible by Verizon
  • Walmart Family Mobile
  • Xfinity Mobile

MVNOs on the AT&T Network

  • AirVoice Wireless
  • Consumer Cellular
  • Cricket Wireless
  • H2O Wireless
  • Klarna Mobile
  • Patriot Mobile
  • PureTalk
  • RedPocket Mobile
  • Ting Mobile
  • Unreal Mobile
  • US Mobile

Be Picky With Prepaid Plans

There’s nothing wrong with a prepaid phone, especially today. Although prepaid plans sprang up as an alternative for customers who couldn’t pass the credit checks to lease or finance a phone, that’s not the case today. There are budget phones that carriers will (almost literally) give away for free, and most carriers own a handful of prepaid services for customers who don’t want a contract.

You should be careful when browsing MVNOs, though. It takes little more than some startup money, a graphic designer, and a bit of promotion to spin up an MVNO—just look at Trump Mobile. MVNOs are all using existing infrastructure, so performance actually isn’t as important as it seems. It’s more important to pay attention to the limitations of service and customer service. That’s what MVNOs provide.

Source: https://www.wired.com/story/prepaid-phone-plans-and-mvnos/

The 12 Most Influential Mobile Phones

Kommentar verfassen

Motorola engineer Martin Cooper made telecommunications history when he placed the first cellphone call 40 years ago. And who did he call, you ask? His rivals at Bell Labs, of course. Oh snap!

Still, it took another decade for the mobile phone to reach the masses, because Motorola didn’t make the DynaTAC available until March 1983. And in an example of just how quaint the tech business was back then, Motorola had a press event 10 years before the phone was on sale.

Which brings us to April 3, 1973, when the company that eventually brought us the Razr and Droid introduced the mobile phone. Forty years later, we’re still dropping calls like bad habits and struggling to get a signal inside a supermarket. Not that it matters, because we rarely use our phones to make phone calls. Instead, they’re a gateway to our digital lives, a means of doing everything from sending texts to updating our status to posting photos and listening to music.

Thousands of phones have come and gone, and most of them seem to run on Android. But the number of handsets that could be called truly groundbreaking is surprisingly small. Here they are.

Yeah, yeah, we’ve probably missed your favorite. And you’ll probably tell us about it in a comment typed on your phone.

Above: Motorola DynaTAC 8000X — 1983

The DynaTAC was the first commercially available cellphone and the culmination of all the research Cooper had done since joining Motorola in 1954.

The phone resembled those the military used in the field. The svelte handset weighed 28 ounces and was 10 inches tall, not including the antenna nearly as long as the phone. It wasn’t exactly something you could shove in a pocket or purse. Still, it wasn’t attached to a car and you could walk around with it, so there was that.

Such mobility wasn’t cheap. The DynaTAC would dig a $4,000 hole into your bank account. But that didn’t stop early adopters from diving into the swanky world of mobile calling. The phone had a cameo alongside Gordon Gekko in Wall Street and with über-preppy Zack Morris on the teen drama Saved By the Bell.

Photo: Motorola

Motorola MicroTAC — 1989

The MicroTAC introduced the flip-phone form factor that would eventually be adopted by the StarTAC. Beyond setting the standard for phones, it popularized the idea of being able to put a mobile phone in your pocket.

The phone, billed as the “MicroTAC Pocket Cellular Telephone,” was the smallest available when it was released. It was a lilliputian 9 inches long when open and weighed a mere 12.3 ounces. For the sake of comparison, the enormous Galaxy Note II is just shy of 6 inches long and weighs 6.4 ounces.

Still, the “little” phone packed a lot of amazing features, including security codes, currency calculator, hands-free operation and, perhaps most conveniently, a phone book to store names and numbers. It was the beginning of the end of having to actually remember anyone’s number.

Photo: Motorola

Nokia 3210 — 1999

The Nokia 3210 was, for many people, the gateway drug of phones. It also was among the first to tuck the antenna inside the handset. (The Toshiba TCP-6000 was the first, but that was the phone’s only claim to fame.) The little Finnish candybar phone was the first mobile communication device of the masses.

Its monochromatic screen did more than give you a heads up about incoming calls. It introduced a generation to the greatest mobile-phone game ever: Snake. The addictive game, based on computer game from the 1970s, featured a snake that grew as it consumed pixels. The object was to make the longest snake possible without having it eat itself.

And you thought Angry Birds was silly.

Nokia sold 160 million T9-enabled 3210s before replacing it with 3310 in late 2000.

Photo: Nokia

Sony Ericsson T68I — 2002

The T68i was the bridge between dumb phones and smartphones and, it could be argued, the most awesome cellphone ever. It included such groundbreaking features at Bluetooth, two-way MMS, simple WAP browsing and e-mail. And it had a cool color screen, a first for Ericsson.

The phone was so far ahead that it appeared in the Bond film Die Another Day. If it was good enough for 007, it was good enough for you. And it proved that people wanted more from their phones than calls and texts. Although the phone never saw the sales numbers of the Nokie 3210, it enjoyed a cultlike following.

Photo: Sony Ericsson

Danger Hiptop/Sidekick — 2002

While the suits and salesmen went nuts for RIM’s BlackBerry, the rest of us typed texts on our own QWERTY keyboard six-shooter, the Danger Hiptop. The phone, aka the T-Mobile Sidekick, was just as connected as a BlackBerry sans BBM, but didn’t make you look like a dork.

The Hiptop had online connectivity and a huge (for the time) 2.6-inch screen that flipped out, making it the swtichblade of the truly connected nerd. It came with a monochrome screen to start, but that soon gave way to color.

Designed by Danger, the Hiptop’s OS supported apps and could communicate not only via SMS but also with instant messaging services like AOL’s AIM. Adored by nerds and teenage girls alike, the Hiptop was the first real smartphone to hit the market.

Photo: Danger

BlackBerry 6210 — 2003

While the T68i put e-mail in your pocket, and the Hiptop made nerds drool, it was the BlackBerry 6210 that made cellphones indispensable to the business world by giving us instant, always-on access to our e-mails.

Little did we know that blessing would become a curse.

Its QWERTY keyboard and solid ability to actually, you know, make phone calls introduced the world to the modern BlackBerry experience of web browsing, e-mails, BlackBerry Messenger and SMS. It jump-started the smartphone market and spawned a class of humans known as crackberry addicts.

The combination of leading-edge technology and an excellent keyboard allowed RIM to utterly dominate the smartphone sector until a small company in Cupertino, California, decided to join the party.

Photo: BlackBerry

Treo 600 — 2003

After filling the pockets of nerds with its PDA (personal digital assistants), Palm set its sights on the mobile phone market with the Treo brand. The phone set the standard for smartphone features that followed.

The Treo 600 came with a camera, an MP3 player and an OS that would influence the iOS dock and the Android homescreen. Apps? Mappable keys? Everything laid out in a neat grid? Yeah, the Treo had all that, with a QWERTY keyboard.

The Treo’s 2.5-inch screen held a world of possibilities. Unfortunately, Palm was slow to update its OS and couldn’t keep up with the competition, even after releasing the Palm Pre with WebOS.

Photo: PalmOne

Motorola RAZR — 2004

The Razr was the first must-have phone. The thin flip phone was stylish and, if the commercials were to believed, would stick like a knife if dropped onto the floor.

While throwing the phone at walls like a knife was a bad idea, the Razr had a great four-year run, selling 130 million units. Is there any wonder why?

The Razr looked like it was straight out of the future. The numerical keyboard was cut from a single piece of metal. Its clamshell aluminum body and colored glass screen were gorgeous. And the damn thing worked like a charm. It was the last dumb phone that truly mattered.

Never mind that it also was the last Motorola phone that truly mattered.

Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

Motorola Rokr — 2005

The Rokr was the first phone to play nicely with iTunes, and it was such a big deal that Steve Jobs himself introduced the phone to the public. Too bad it was a horrible, horrible phone.

Sure it worked with iTunes, but it held no more than 100 songs. And getting them onto the phone was as quick and comfortable as a root canal without anesthesia. And then there was the UI. Dear god, the UI. Sluggish doesn’t begin to describe it.

Still, the Rokr was a milestone because it opened the door to the phone as a media player. It could have been the iPhone. Instead, it inspired Apple to make the iPhone.

Photo: Motorola

Nokia N95 — 2007

The N95 expanded on ideas first seen in the T68i, with features usually found in smartphones and without the gigantic physical QWERTY keyboard form factor. It was stylish and functional, two things sorely missing in the smartphone world.

The N95 wasn’t the first to feature GPS with optional turn-by-turn navigation, a 5-megapixel camera that shot video, or a radio tuner. But it packaged those features in a gorgeous phone. It made design matter. The front of the phone slid up to reveal a numeric keyboard and slid down to reveal media buttons that controlled the onboard MP3 player.

It looked good, had a ton of functions and, thanks to the camera flash, those late-night photos at the club actually looked good.

Photo: Nokia

Apple iPhone — 2007

This is the phone that changed everything. It was the first smartphone with features people wanted, even if they didn’t know it yet. It was different in every way, from its stunning design to its ease of use to the things it would allow us to do.

Of course, we didn’t see that at first. All we could do was gripe about an app store with empty shelves, a single button on the bezel and the fact we couldn’t cut-and-paste anything. It seems so quaint now, when so much of what iOS pioneered has become the norm for smartphones.

No less important was how Apple changed how handset makers dealt with carriers. The balance of power shifted from the likes of AT&T and Verizon to Apple and Samsung.

Nearly six years and five iterations later, the iPhone still sets the standard.

Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

HTC Dream — 2008

The Dream, marketed as the T-Mobile G1 here in the United States, was the first Android phone when it hit the market in 2008. That made it the first phone to challenge the iPhone in the touchscreen smartphone wars.

At first, it was a QWERTY-only affair, but the update to Android 1.5 introduced an onscreen keyboard so you no longer had to slide the screen up to tap out messages. The 3.2-inch screen showcased the operating system that Google purchased from Android Inc.

While the HTC Dream and the first version of Android were a bit of a dud next to the iPhone, the operating system and phones that ran it became more and more impressive as the years passed. Now Android devices are on par, or better than, the phone from Cupertino.

But as we’ve seen before, all of this could change. Like Apple did before, a company with zero history in the phone market could emerge with a new and exciting way to call your friends and tell them, “Hey, guess what I’m doing,” and change the industry again.

Photo: HTC

Quelle: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/04/influential-cellphones